Introduction
The focus of this self-study was to explore my practice of learning and teaching literature as a novice teacher in the grade eleven class. The intentions were on improving how I enact the teaching of literature with the aim of improving learners’ understanding of the literature content.
In chapter four, I responded to the second research question: “What can I learn through exploring my enactment of teaching English second language literature as a novice teacher?”
I first discussed learning from my personal history and explained how I enacted the literature content using the lessons planned. Thereafter, a reflection on each lesson and an explanation of how the lessons were observed, as well as the challenges encountered were provided.
Furthermore, I used metaphor drawings to symbolize my learning from teaching literature to my learners were presented.
This chapter, which is a concluding chapter, I carry on to reflect and respond to my second critical question: “What can I learn through exploring my enactment of teaching English second language literature as a novice teacher?” To facilitate my reflections I present a collage that I created to share my learnings from designing and teaching lessons, as I attempted to find innovative ways of teaching the literature content and improve my practice (See chapter four).
From the collage, an explanation of what each picture symbolizes is provided. Lastly, I explain new knowledge gained from teaching literature to grade 11 learners and future prospects as a consequence of my self-study research.
Using a collage to present my reflective learnings
Through enacting the curriculum while embarking on this research, I have made some discoveries that I share as my continued learnings that started in chapter four. Coming into the field of teaching as a novice teacher I found I was positioned as a professional who possessed the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively enact the curriculum content, such as literature. It is this perceived state of knowing, that I intended to study as I attempted to explore and learn how to improve my teaching of literature. Since the beginning of my service as a teacher, I have always positioned myself as a novice (see chapter one) with an understanding that through practice, I had some learning to do. It is this need to learn and improve that facilitated the desire for this study, which has brought about important learnings for me.
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Through the collage (see figure 5.1) I represent my offerings of what I considered important learnings that have emerged for me in this journey. I found the collage a suitable tool as it enabled me to arrange my realisations of how to improve my teaching of literature to refine my practice. I found creating a collage freeing and very playful experience as it has no rules.
Therefore, it also helped me escape boundaries and look beyond limitations (Shepard &
Guenette, 2010).
Figure 5.1: Collage representing my learnings and reflections of my research journey Taken from the collage above (figure 5.1) I share five significant Learnings which are: a) Making the curriculum fit the school context; b) Encouraging interest in African stories and poetry; c )Using technological resources and demonstrations as teaching approaches; d) My learning as a novice teacher; and e)and Learning through code-switching. These are offered in details below:
103 Making the curriculum fit the school context
Figure 5.2: Understanding the curriculum through understanding the school context.
The above images from the collage represent my learning of the curriculum versus the context of the learners. .The curriculum policy document (CAPS) with its literature content is intended for all South African contexts. I found it has no consideration of the location of schools, be it they are in deep rural areas, such as my school, the townships and urban areas. As we battle with the challenges brought on by our various teaching contexts, the expectations are we manage to produce the same level of understanding for learners, and good results which have proven problematic. However, through the journey in this research, I have learned to consider myself as a resource that can bridge the gap between the context and the curriculum content as I bring what the outside world has to offer to facilitate learning and teaching.
In bringing resources to the school from my own context I was able to introduce new possibilities for learning and opened opportunities for my learners to see beyond their context.
This ensured that in my enactment of the prescribed curriculum, I was able to create connections between the context and the set content in the curriculum. Therefore as a novice teacher, I learned that to meet the aims and objectives of the curriculum, I must not focus on the limitations of the context, but explore the world outside the school and bring that through me to the school (see chapter four). In bringing the videos, projectors, laptops, charts and other resources I was able to enhance their learning and brought literature to life for them in the process and improve my own practice.
Therefore, going the extra mile in ensuring that learners receive better education and understanding of the content taught is important. As I did with my learners when using resources from my outside world to ensure a better understanding of the literature content to the learners.
104 Encouraging interest in African stories and poetry
Figure 5.3: Words showing what could be created by using African stories.
Apart from bringing tangible resources, I realized that to create interest and passion for literature, I needed to also use African stories and poetry that were familiar to learners. I was reminded of this through my personal history (see chapter three) when I used to listen to folklore and fairytales in isiZulu narrated by grandmother. And also my primary school teacher who made us sing Zulu poetry and made us understand and developed love for literature through narrating and singing literature in isiZulu. The use of uZalo, which celebrates what is familiar to the learners was one such tool that assisted them in understanding literature short stories better. This taught me that allowing learners to understand literature firstly in their native language, can help them better understand it in the foreign language. This learning is one of the approaches I tend to practice more in the classroom as it seemed to be more effective and productive when teaching literature.
Using technological resources and demonstration as a teaching approach
Figure 5.4: Image representing the use of technology and demonstration for learning and teaching.
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Another learning experience gained from this research for me was the use of demonstrations and technological resources to draw learners’ attention and create interest. As a novice teacher, I learned that Learners learn differently, and they respond differently and with interest to things they are not usually exposed to. Through technology, I was able to positively influence the learners’ learning and increased their enthusiasm in reading literature. I used different technological resources to create interest and enhance their learning. In doing so, I discovered that using technology which they were not familiar with in the classroom drew their attention and created interest in their learning (see chapter 4). They became eager to see the outcome and participate, which made the lesson more interesting, which they demonstrated by asking questions out of curiosity.
It also allowed me to bring visuals of stories that were familiar to them such as Uzalo. This assisted me because learners were able to see and comment on what they were seeing. Interpret short story features more effectively like the moods and tones of the characters after they had heard them talk. Unlike when reading from the book whereby you have to imagine characters saying words and think of tones and moods through reading what they have said. This which was a consequence of watching the video gave me the understanding that learners respond better to such approaches and technological resources when used effectively. Moreover, I was conscious of the significance of the demonstration as a teaching approach to enhancing their learning.
Through this study, I also learned that engaging in demonstrations during learning allowed learners to also have a visual understanding of what was being taught. I realized the importance of showing learners how to do activities before allowing them to perform those tasks. When teaching literature, I realized my demonstration skills needed to be improved to enhance the literature curriculum for my learners. For example, demonstrate the actions and reactions of the characters to enhance their understanding. I was able to create interest and laughter in the classroom through actions and feelings of the poets and characters (see chapter four).
Once learners understood the lesson, they become more comfortable, curious, and were able to voice out their opinions about the text. Therefore, by using different resources and the right approaches that fit into the learners’ context, the lesson becomes more productive and interesting.
106 Learning as a novice teacher
Figure 5.5: The image representing my continued growth as a novice teacher.
Figure 5.5 represents my learning as a novice teacher as I enacted the literature content. At the beginning of our professional career, I saw myself questioning my practice as I saw what I viewed as the ineffectiveness of my teaching. Through this process I was able to see how I was a teacher-centered novice teacher; I realized that in my lessons, I did all the talking and allowed learners to only consider my views. This was a result of how I planned my lessons.
I discovered that in understanding the context I teach, I had to first know the learners and understand where they are coming from. I found through my teaching, I was under privileging my learners and undermining their abilities. When teaching literature; I found it was important to allow learners to learn for themselves. I understood the need for me as a teacher to sometimes take a back seat and facilitate the learning while they take the lead. Others are good at reading, while others are in listening. When a request to read a text is made, those with good reading skills usually volunteer and sometimes they are selected to read. Similarly, those with listening skills recall all that is discussed in class, since they pay more attention (see chapter 4).
Apart from learning and teaching, strong relations were built between my learners and which allowed them to reflect on their learning and free to open up about their personal matters. For example, one learner shared that she could not effectively study at home because she had a child and her mother did not want to help her with the child when she had to study. Consequently, it affected her schoolwork and she was concerned about her performance. She requested that I conduct extra classes with the grade twelve learners, so she could do her homework in class.
This made me realize how my research had an impact on the learners. It enabled me to reach
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out academically to the learners who need extra assistance in their studies. Therefore, it is important that lessons be learner-centered especially when teaching literature. This gives learners a chance to learn on their own through engaging with the content with peers and assisted by the teacher.
Learning through code-switching
Figure 5.6: Using code-switching to facilitate effective learning.
The medium of instruction in the school is English, and I have learned how problematic that was for learning. I found that part of the challenges that learners experienced during literature lessons was as a result of the language barrier. I realized the role that code-switching played when teaching to help learners have a better understanding of the literature (see chapter four).
When I applied this understanding, it further allowed more learning opportunities for the learners and prompted participation from them. They became more aware of what the lesson is about and showed interest in listening and being part of the lesson. As a novice teacher, I realised that allowing them to use their native language in showing understanding of the content gives them the freedom to voice out their thoughts and feelings about the text. I discovered that the reason for what I saw as silence and non-participation was not because of lack of knowledge or not having answers to questions, but attributed to failure to express themselves in English.
When persuaded to try, they could not because they felt embarrassed.
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Hence, I learned that it is very important to allow learners to code-switch sometimes when expressing themselves. This would reduce shyness and fear of responding to questions in the classroom and thus increase their participation in class. They become free thinkers because of the enlightenment brought to them; they become happy and their facial expressions change from confusion to understanding. Likewise, when I learned literature, I would listen to the English version to memorize it for the purpose of the exams. I knew that once I understood a short story or poem and its literary terms in Zulu, I would not fail to answer any question in the exam in English (see chapter three). My learners also exhibited similar behavior. Therefore, code-switching is sometimes necessary for enabling the understanding of information.
My Personal and Professional Learning experience in teaching literature
Embarking on this self-study has been an enlightenment regarding the teaching of literature in schools. I discovered things about myself, things that were not in my subconscious mind and things about the learners I teach. I realized that teaching literature requires one to be knowledgeable in terms of literature content; it requires exposure to literary texts before engaging with the learners. This is because of discoveries made in the process of enacting the lessons. When learners know the text, they can ask questions that might be challenging to the teacher, if the teacher is not fully knowledgeable. Therefore, this allowed me to learn more about my learners and their understandings of literary texts. It has motivated and encouraged me to learn more about literature and prepare before lessons.
Adopting the transactional perspective in teaching and learning has helped me as a novice teacher to understand the relationship that needs to be created between the learners and the text, (Rosenblatt, 1986). Moreover, the application of the transactional theory helped me witness change in my learners and understand that the relationship built between the text and the reader, which “is like between the river and its banks, each working its effect upon the other and each contributing in shaping the literary text” (Rosenblatt, 1986, p. 23). This means that if meaning does not reside in the text but in what the reader has thought, the discussion of literature demands that the mind of an individual reader or group be considered. However, it was evident that learners often experience problems in literature and mostly depended on my responses and support in reading literary work. Before embarking on this journey of self- study reflection, I ensured that the learners only considered my views pertaining to a particular text read. I learned that learners want their views to be heard and considered and sometimes demand this attention from their teacher. This makes them happy, feel more knowledgeable and proud (Phewa, 2016).
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Learning from the transactional theory
In using the transactional theory, I learned that it is important to create a mutually defining relationship between my learners and the text, to create a reciprocal relationship. Allowed my learners to read literature or giving them the opportunity to read and analyse literature made me fall in love with it and the learners fell in love with it through engaging with it on their own.
Through this theory, I allowed my learners to create their own meanings of texts given to them based on their existing knowledge of the text (see chapter 4). It made me realize that without the learners as readers, the text becomes meaningless words on a piece of paper with ideas never shared nor put into practice (Lash, 2015). This leads to confusion and disinterest for the learners.
To me, this meant that without people or learners engaging with the text, reading it and creating their own meanings of it, it becomes meaningless. Also, learners should be led and encouraged to create foreseen conclusions regarding any literary work. Like we did with my learners, they were able to create conclusions of stories before they have reached story conclusions.
Therefore, in the process of enacting the literature content, I encouraged learners to create deep, figurative but not literal meanings of the text. Learners were also led to understand that each text is different for each reader. They were encouraged to respect and examine their responses, memories, images etcetera as the theory stipulates. As an example, we looked at the meanings created by two different learners. Their meanings differed according to their different understandings of the text. This then emphasized that each text is different for each reader in every text taught, learners could use their creative thinking skills in analysing and creating meanings for text given to them; however, they were not to search for one. I was able to learn to realize the potential of the learners to understand the work, and not rush to solve their problems.
Hence, as a novice teacher looking at her practice of teaching literature, I now understand that literature requires love, passion, and understanding. No meaning created by the reader based on a particular text is incorrect because meaning created is based on the readers’ background understanding of the text. And that it is important to allow learners to explore the text and use their creativity when analyzing the text.
Methodological learning
Using a self-study as my research methodology has helped me understand my practice as a novice teacher. Interrogating my practice has helped me to learn the importance of understanding my practice as well as the learners I teach. I achieved this by engaging with my
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critical friend who assisted me in building constructive self-study research, (Pithouse-Morgan
& Samaras, 2015). Working with him has helped me gain new perspectives on my teaching practice as well as on my research process. I have used memory works to recall my past and present learnings of English literature. This helped me to recall my informal and formal learnings of literature. It has enlightened me on the importance of using formal and informal activities when teaching the literature content.
This study has allowed me to use artistic drawings such as collages. Through using these artistic drawings, I learned to reveal feelings, thoughts, and learnings using pictures/images. These helped me to further reveal unspoken feelings and thoughts.
The use of reflective journals in this study helped me reflect on my past and present experiences and learnings which helped me to learn from my practice and to learn about the learners I teach, (Masinga, 2012). Therefore, reflecting on each lesson has helped me look for meaningful learnings about my learners and to understand their needs, thoughts, and feelings towards the literature content. Therefore, my take away of the self-study methodology of educational practice is that it can help a person gain insight into things they have not paid much attention to. It helps you gain an understanding of your practice and allows opportunities for assessing one's practice through effective introspective processes. As a result, I have grown professionally by taking steps in moving away from being a teacher-centered teacher to a more learner- centered teacher.
Continued improvement of my practice as a novice teacher
For future purposes in teaching literature, I aim to continue creating these accommodative lessons and use code-switching to enable a better understanding of the content to second language speakers (Lin, 2013). The use of many resources to enhance learning and demonstrations to portray knowledge and understanding of the text can be useful to the teaching and learning process. Reflecting on my lessons helped me improve my practice and made me aware of the things that needed my attention with regard to the literature content. Therefore, the intention is to extend this practice to other lessons. Also, since learners need to be motivated to read, the experience has taught me patience, to teach with their context in mind and to create lessons that are interesting to increase their enthusiasm. Because they become easily offended when the discussions are related to their background, it is important to be cautious when choosing what to share with learners.